RESEARCH TRIANGLE PARK, N.C., December 28, 2011 – A $30,000 loan from the North Carolina Biotechnology Center is helping NovaTarg grow in the Research Triangle Park area.

NovaTarg, founded in Durham in 2009, is developing novel pharmaceutical products targeting liver diseases and diabetes. The company received a $30,000 Company Inception Loan from the Biotech Center. The loan will help position it for raising outside funding that can advance its experimental therapies into clinical trials.

Kenneth Batchelor, Ph.D., NovaTarg’s founder, president and CEO, has spent nearly three decades in drug discovery, most recently as senior vice president at GlaxoSmithKline.

“The funding environment is neither predictable nor sustainable for small companies,” said Batchelor, “and support from the North Carolina Biotechnology Center is critical for NovaTarg to become established as a local drug-discovery company.

“NovaTarg is making great strides toward the identification of our first drug candidate for the treatment of hepatitis C and other liver-associated diseases. We look forward to using the CIL to fund key aspects of this discovery effort. NovaTarg has also received grant funding from the National Institutes of Health to help further its research.”

Joseph Nixon, business development director at the Biotech Center, who manages the Company Inception Loan program, said the current funding environment for early-stage biotechnology companies is extremely challenging.

“The Biotechnology Center is pleased to support NovaTarg at this critical time in the company’s development,” he said. “We expect that this funding will help the company create jobs in North Carolina and to develop important products addressing significant unmet needs for patients.”

The Biotechnology Center is a private, non-profit corporation supported by the N.C. General Assembly. Its mission is to provide long-term economic and societal benefits to North Carolina by supporting biotechnology research, business, education and strategic policy statewide.

Contact: Robin Deacle, vice president of corporate communications, at robin_deacle@ncbiotech.org or 919-541-9366. Visit the Biotechnology Center's website at www.ncbiotech.org